Mike Vrabel had to eat his own words in front of Patriots media as he addressed the Dianna Russini scandal on Tuesday
Mike Vrabel spoke to Patriots reporters for the first time since the controversial photos of him and Dianna Russini surfaced. The statement was respected, but it’s a far cry from his initial reply on the matter.
Another day, another update on the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini scandal.
Vrabel spoke to the New England Patriots media for the first time since the pictures of Vrabel and Russini surfaced in early April. He opened the presser with a statement that started by thanking the media for its patience and grace in giving Vrabel time to sift through the situation before addressing the rest.
“I understand I could have addressed you guys sooner,” Vrabel said via video from Patriots reporter Mark Daniels. “But it was important to me to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly as we began our offseason program… [VP of Media Relations] Stacey [James] had mentioned the players’ availability and it was never my intention to have them speak with you or address you before I did, so I asked him to come today and talk with you.
“I also don’t want to take away from the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us (and) our organization… One that should be celebrated as we welcome them on to our team.
“With that being said, I’ve had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players. Those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field you have to make good decision. That includes me. That starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively effect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction. And those are comments and questions that I’ve answered with the team and we’ll keep those private, to ourselves.
“I care deeply about this football team and I’m excited to coach them. I also know that I’m going to attack each day with humility and focus and what I can promise you is, my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That’s what I know and I’m excited about that. But I wanted to just address this and thank you for your patience in dealing with a private and personal matter.”
Mike Vrabel has to eat his own words regarding Dianna Russini
Mike Vrabel’s statement is a far cry from his initial response when the photos of him and Dianna Russini first surfaced.
“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel said to the Post, which is the outlet that broke the story. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
Talk about having to backtrack and I mean way, way, way back.
The statement was honest and respectable, but Vrabel’s ego certainly got the best of him in the beginning and now he has a bit of egg on his face. Add on the fact Robert Kraft reportedly tried to have the photos nixed and it’s becoming more and more apparent something was going down between Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini.
Regardless, and frankly, hopefully this is the last we hear of the story. Based on how it’s been going, though, that’s doubtful in itself.